Black Lisa (English & Serbian Version)

Crna Liza

Pod nebom što zaborav zna,

Hodah stazom bez svjetla, bez dna.

Tišina je disala, bez zvuka ptica,

Zrak je gorio kao paklena klica.

Iz guste magle, bez glasa, bez hoda,

Pojavi se žena, ni stara, ni mlada.

Haljina joj biješe boje trule ljubičice,

Sa crnilom noći u porubu lice.

Plašt se viorio kao mrtvačka duga,

Bez vjetra, bez tijela, bez ikakvog druga.

A lice joj nije bilo više stvar,

Katran crni, kao da mu je sam pakao dar.

U njenim očima nije bilo ni sjaja,

Samo crna maska bez ikakvog kraja.

Osjetih hladnoću kroz prsa i vrat,

Ko da me dotakao podzemlja brat.

I onda prozbori, kroz zube bez glasa,

Ko da šapće zemlja ispod starog orasa:

„Poješće te crvi, vuci i lisice...

U tvojoj krvi splela sam niti sudbine kao iglice.”

Ruka mi zadrhta, nad mene se nadignu,

Kad hladna me šaka za zglob čvrsto stegnu.

Kao da me traži iz nekog duga,

Kao da sam joj krvna zaboravljena sluga.

Probudih se u znoju, a zora ne svanu,

Na koži osjetih bolnu ranu.

Gledah ruku gdje me taknu njena tama,

Još se osjeti miris katrana, još titra sjena sama.

Od tada šutim, noću ne snivam,

I pod jastuk nož tiho sakrivam.

Jer Crna Liza dolazi dok u san toneš,

Kad strahom dišeš da joj svoju dušu daruješ.

Black Lisa

Beneath a sky that forgot the day,

I walked a path where light lost its way.

No bird did sing, the silence was wide,

The air itself burned deep inside.

From fog so thick, without a tread,

Appeared a woman, neither young nor dead.

Her cloak was hued like rotting bloom,

Night’s own black stitched at its loom.

It fluttered still like a funeral veil,

No wind, no flesh, no ghostly trail.

Her face no longer seemed quite real,

Like pitch from Hell, too dark to feel.

Her eyes held not a single gleam,

Just masks of black, an endless dream.

A chill then crept through chest and spine,

As if Death’s kin had crossed the line.

She spoke, no voice, just teeth like stones,

As if the earth beneath old oaks moans:

"The worms, the fox, the wolves will feast...

In your blood, I’ve spun fate’s thread, at least."

My hand did shake as she rose above,

Her icy grip like iron glove.

As if a debt she came to claim,

As if I’d served her, without name.

I woke in sweat, yet dawn was gone,

A wound still burned though night moved on.

I stared where her black touch had lain,

Still smelled the tar, still danced in pain.

Since then I’m mute, I dream no more,

A knife I keep beneath the floor.

For Black Lisa comes when you fall deep,

To steal your soul through fear and sleep. 

Reviews

[Dave W.]

This poem was great, I felt the fear of it. The feeling is one of walking into an empty dark room and not feeling alone, makes my hair stand on end. wel done

[Milena Grubor]

Thank you! I hope I didn't freak you out 😘

[Dave W.]

Freak out? No way, if anything im impressed.

[Michael Sun Bear]

Having read the poem I thought to myself, what a delightful bedtime story to read to children, sure to give them lively dreams. Then I read your note about this being an old folktale. I have nightly nightmares made of my own personal themes, dreams that wake me gasping in fear, afraid to go back to sleep. And if I fail to stay awake, the same nightmare seizes me in its grip, takes up where it left off. So I give great credence to your folktale of which you have beautifully written.

[Milena Grubor]

It was so intense that I could barely breathe.

[Milena Grubor]

In the Balkans, there is an old folk belief about the night apparition, a shadow that doesn’t come while you’re awake, but when you begin to dream. It’s not a creature of fairy tales, but of fear, passed down in whispers through generations. It is said that the night apparition appears in sleep, sits on your chest, steals your breath, and sometimes, your soul. Many who dream of it never wake up. And those who do, rarely dare to fall asleep again. The night remains long. The silence heavy. Those who’ve felt it seldom speak of it. Because fear has shape, and sometimes a name. I woke up. And I never returned to bed. That’s how this poem was born.